Telephone.



H-THOMPSON.

TELEPHDNE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 18. 191

1,177,455; PatentedMar. 28,1916.

' 2 SHEETSSHEET I. v

mam r55.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE? THOMPSON, ornarnmnsono, SOUTH iuoivaenm,ONTARIO, oamma.

TELEPHONE.

This invention relates to telephones, and

more particularly to an attachment for what is commonly known as partyline telephones,

such as are used in rural districts, wherein all of the telephones areoperatively connected, so that the parties on each and every station maylisten to the conversation between any two stations should they sodesire.

The primary object of this invention is the provision of'a signalingattachment for connection with the various telephones, which signalmgattachment will immediately, upon the moving of the telephone receiverfrom the supporting hook, sound the designating signalof the telephonefrom which the receiver is removed, thereby acquainting the parties whoaretalking upon the. line that such and such apersonhas taken down theirreceiver for the purpose of listening to the conversation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a means by which thedownward movement of the signaling plate may be retarded, therebyinsuring the proper timing of the signals.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a device by means ofwhich the forcing of the signaling plate is prevented. I

A further and more specific object of the invention is to provide adevice to prevent a.

person from operating the telephone ringer until after the signal hasbeen given.

With the foregoing and other objects in view this invention consists 1nsuch novel features of construction, combination and arrangement ofparts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated intheaccompanying drawings and clalmed'. In describing the inventn 1ndetailreference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein likecharacters of reference Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 28, 1916.

designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views,wl11ch:-

and in .Figure l is a sectional view through the 7 ordinary type ofpartytelephone as specified showing the improved attachment appliedthereto. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of. a part of the signalingattachment for the telephone. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view on line33 'of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail view in elevation showing a part ofthe signaling mechanism in an operated position.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of a part of I the construction of theinvention showing the telephone locking member, and Fig. 6 1s a detailview of the pivoted plate and support therefor.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 designates a telephone ofthe type which is commonly used on party lines in rural districts, whichtelephone embodies the bell-ringing lever 2, the receiver 3, the receiver supporting hook 4, the gear 5 and pinions 6, for operating thetelephone sig naling mechanism, and other features of construction suchas are commonly found in telephones of this nature.

The telephone has a leaf spring 7, which leaf spring engages the lowersurface of the receiver supporting hook 4, and it is normally held undertension by. the receiver 3 when the same is mounted upon the hook 4,

so that immediately upon the removal of the receiver from the hook thespring 7 will force the hook upwardly, as is ordinary in theconstruction of telephones of this nature.

The casing 8 in which the telephone is mounted, has an auxiliary casing9, mounted thereupon, which auxiliary casing has the slgnahng mechamsm,which w1ll be heremafter more fully described, mounted therein.

The receiver supporting hook 4 has'a bar 10 secured to the. end 11'thereof, which projects out of the telephone casing 8 and the bar 10is-pivotally connected as at 12 to a rocker arm 14, which is pivotallymounted on a pin 15. The pin 15 is supported by tal flange 17 formedalong its lower edge at to form a rest to support the plate :ispivotally mounted within the a partition 16, which partition is mountedwithin the casing '9. The rock arm is. of a novel form having an angularhorlzonresent the number of rings by which the casing 9 and itwillbelseen that when the rockarm 14 moves into the position shown inFig. 4 the plate 18 will be free to move downwardly under the influenceof itsown weight. It will be-noted that the manual movement of the rock'arm 14 will have no effect in forcing theplate 18 to move downwardly atan increased speed and it will thus be seen that the dash pot which willbe more fully hereinafter described will insure the propertiming ofthesignals. The I 19 connected thereto, which bar is in turn connected tothe plate 18 has a bar piston rod 20 of a dash pot 21. The dash pot 21is'supported upon the rear face of the partition 16 by a strap 22, whichextendsnbout the dash pot "and binds the same in engagement with thesurface of the partition 16. The piston (not shown) of the dash pot 21retards the downward pivotal movement of the plate 18; so that thetiming of the signals will be uniform throughout the operation ofthe-device.

. Theforward edge 23 of the plate 18 is arcuate and provided with aplurality of notches or indentations 24. The notches or indentations 24:are spaced along the length. of the arcuat'e edge23 of the plate 18, sothat the distance between the notches adjacent eachother, will be suchthat they reptelephone to which the lever'lO is connected is designated,For example: in case the telephone" 1 is known by. two short, two longand a short, the notches 2i will be spaced so as to formtwo shortspaces, adjacent each other, two long spaces adjacent each other, andashort space positioned upon the opposite end of the'side23 from thefirst two short spaces, or as is clearly shown in the drawings. a

. The partition 16 has pivotally mounted thereupon two levers 25 and 26,the levers I beingpivoted so that the terminals of their ment of thelever 25.

longer ends will engage upon rocking move- The lever 25 has its forwardshort end 27 bent upwardly or subj 7 stantially at right angles to thelever and the upwardly bent end 27 is provided for .en-

gagement with the arcuate marginal edge 23.01? the pivoted plate 18.

The levers25 and 26 are pivotally mounted upon pins 28 and 29respectively, which pins have communication through flexible electricconductors 30 with the opposite poles of an annunciator 31 through abattery circuit so that when the terminals of the long lends ofthelevers are in-engagement with each-other th 3B11u11ClatOI' 3l will beoperated for sounding a signal.

The.-casing.8 has a bracket mounted 1 therein in which bracketis-slidably seated a rod 34. The rod 34 extends vertically through thebracket 33 and into the interior of the auxiliary casing-9, being guidedin its movement within the casing 9 by a strap 35, which strap issecured to the partition 16, or the casing 9 as desired.

-Tl1e-r0d 34 has an arm 36 secured. thereto a thumb screw'36',

adjacent its upper end and movable and adjustable by means of which rodis provided for engagement by one end of the lever 37.; The lever37ispivotally mounted within the casing 9 and extends transverselythereacross, being held in an upward opposite-position by an elasendwhich is adjacent the arm 36 upwardly and moving the rod 34 upwardlywithin its plvotal point-of thelever, from the arm 36 downwardly,forcing the.

bearings and out of "engagement with the peripheral teeth ofithe gear 5,which is mounted in the telephone box 8 as has been heretoforedescribed, thereby permitting of the operating of the gear and thetele-,

phone 1. v

In the operation of the improved signaling attachment for telephones;when the receiver 3 is removed from the receiver hook 4, thebar 10 willbe operated by the upward movement of the receiver hook Which-will inturn operate the rockarm 14: causing the.

flange 17 formed thereon to move out of a 1 supporting position withrelation to the piv otal plate 18, and permitting the plate to movedownwardly within the auxiliary cas ing 9.

lever 25, the lever 25, will be operated upon its pivotal point andmoved so that it will engage the. lever 26, closing a circuit betweenthe two poles of the annunciator 31. The

Upon the downward movement of, the pivotal plate 18, the'marginal edge23 thereofwill engage the upturned end 27 of the lever 25, and upon theengagement of the arcuate edge 23 with the end 27 of the 1 notches 24which are formed in the arcuate edge 23 of the plate 18 will release thelever 25 and cause the same to move out of engagement with the lever 26,thereby breakin the circuit, so that the entire movement 0? the plate 18downwardly will sound the siganal which designates the telephone towhich the attachment is connected. 7 The plate 18 in reachingthelloweinterminus of its pivotal movement, which. is reg: ulated by theoperation of the piston 20 within the cylinder 21, will cause the angledend of the arm 411:0 engage the lever-37,

"therod 34 in a vertical manner so as to permit the rotation of thegear, 5 and the operationQof the telephone in the ordinary.

manner. I

From the foregoing description taken m connection with the accompanyiiigdrawings the advantages ofthe construction and of the method ofoperation. of the improved telephone attachment will be readily apparentto those skilled in the art to which this invention 'app'ertains andwhile in the foregoing descriptiom'the principle of the operation ofthis invention has been described together withvarious features ofconstruction, it- -is to 'be understood that certain minor features ofconstruction, combination and arrangementof: parts'may be altered,

to suit practical conditions provided such alterations are comprehendedwithin the scope of whatis claimed.

What is claimed is 1. The combination with a telephone having areceiverhook, and-a receiver on said hook, of a signaling means comprising acasing, a signal plate mounted withinthe casing, a rocker arm-mounted onthe same pivot with the signal plate, means connectmg the rocker armwith the receiver hook whereby upon removing the receiver from thereceiver hook, the rocker arm will be moved upwardly, thereby allowingthe signail plate to move downwardLymeans to retard the movement of thesignal plate to insure the proper timing ofv .the signal,

means to prevent the ringing mechanism of the telephonefrom beingoperated during the movement of the signal arm, thereby avoiding theconfusing of signals, and

means to allow the ringer to be operated after the signal has been,given.

2.5111 combination with a telephone having a casing, a receiver hookpivoted within the casing and a receiver on the hook of a second casing,a'rocker arm pivoted the second casing, a rod connectin theouter end ofthe rockerarmwith the rec end of the receiver hook, a signal platepivoted on the pivot of the rocker arm, a' flange on the rocker armnormally holding the signal plate elevated, signaling means actuatedupon the downward movement of the signal plate, means to retard thedownward movement of the signal plate, to insure the proper timing ofthe signal, a ringer for the telephone, and a stop adapted to hold theringer against movement until the signal has been given over the line.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY THOMPSON. Witnesses:

J. ABBOTT, W. T. OOD.

